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Energy Flow Through Marine Ecosystems: Confronting Transfer Efficiency
Tyler D Eddy1, Joey R Bernhardt2, Julia L Blanchard3
1Nippon Foundation Nereus Program, Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA; Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research, Fisheries and Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada.
Abstract:
Transfer efficiency is the proportion of energy passed between nodes in food webs. It is an emergent, unitless property that is difficult to measure, and responds dynamically to environmental and ecosystem changes. Because the consequences of changes in transfer efficiency compound through ecosystems, slight variations can have large effects on food availability for top predators. Here, we review the processes controlling transfer efficiency, approaches to estimate it, and known variations across ocean biomes. Both process-level analysis and observed macroscale variations suggest that ecosystem-scale transfer efficiency is highly variable, impacted by fishing, and will decline with climate change. It is important that we more fully resolve the processes controlling transfer efficiency in models to effectively anticipate changes in marine ecosystems and fisheries resources.
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